Well where to start...I started about 9 years ago with a X-terra 705 because after research it seemed like a great machine for coins and relics as well as gold. I live by about 5 miles from the beaches of Southern California so off I went. First day out, found a diamond ring! Woooo I'm hooked! Since then I spend many hours on the sand finding hundreds of coins and only a few more pay rings. Still having a great time.
I soon moved on to the gold fields of the El Paso mountains. It took about 10 trips out before I found my fist nugget. It was a nice 1 gram chunk of pay! I was elated to say the least. Since then I got rid of the 705 and went for the Garrett AT Gold. What a great machine! Very much like the 705 but it has a screen reading the 705 didn't...but they both have about the same sensitivity and depth. Love both machines really. I soon came across a Gold Bug2 and that's when I started finding gold like crazy. Although that machine has a learning curve I adapted to it pretty quickly. It's been about 5 years swinging the Gold Bug2 and I can say I still have dreams of finding the big gold nug. I'm here to read how some of you find those "off the beaten path" spots and hope to meet a friend or two.
Happy Detecting!